Best Laid Plans
by Missie DuCaine
Summary: Warren/Will. People get together in the strangest ways. "The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry".


**Best Laid Plans**

_Disney owns the boys, not me. Sadly_.

William Theodore Stronghold had a problem.

And specifically, that problem was Warren Peace.

No, it wasn't their stupid rivalry from Freshman year - they were so both way over that. No, this was a bigger problem.

His problem was that Warren was his best friend, and he wanted nothing more than to pin the other to the wall and kiss him silly.

Of course, he couldn't do that, because Warren was a guy, and Will was a guy. Sure, there was a gay couple or two at his school, but his parents were famous, and already, he was showing up in tabloids every time he did something, because he was famous too, by proxy. Just last week, there had been a fuzzy picture of him flying, and the headlines had screamed, "Son of the Commander and Jetstream frees Los Angeles from Bat Boy!" Okay, the Bat Boy had been Photoshopped in, but the point was, that if he started to date Warren, the whole world would know, and that would be a detriment to the whole 'don't let dad know I'm gay' plan. Besides that, he kind of hadn't told his girlfriend yet that he was gay and had a big crush on his best friend.

So there you had it, problem.

Which made him realize that he needed a plan.

Will was never very good at plans. He tended to like letting his more clever friends come up with the plans, he was more a man of action, really. To be honest, Warren was usually the one who concocted the plans.

That would be a little awkward, wouldn't it?

"Hey, Warren. I need to come up with a plan to get a date with you. What do you think I should do?"

Yeah. Right. So Will was forced to think this through for himself. And step number one was trying to gently let down Layla.

"Hey Layla," Will grinned a little, nervously, as he sat on the bench beside her. "How are you?"

"Hmm?" Layla looked up, distracted from her Mad Science notes. "Oh, good. How are you?"

"Fine," he muttered. "We need to talk."

"Oh, thank god." Layla clapped her book shut, turning to look at him. "Well?"

"I think we should... see other people," Will said slowly.

"Yes." she nodded firmly. "We should."

He blinked. "You... aren't mad?"

Layla smiled. "Will, you and I have been best friends forever. Well, since grade one. And I love you. Like a brother. I really thought I had a crush, but... it didn't work. We are so not dating material! I mean, hanging out with you is great. But when you start to add romance and stuff, it seems awkward. I'm glad we could try, but... I really think we need to expand our horizons."

"Oh." Will blinked again. A lot. "Well, that's good."

Layla grinned. "Did you have someone in mind?"

Will cleared his throat. "Maybe."

Okay, step one... surprisingly easy to get to. Odd.

Step two! Tell his dad that he was gay. This one he was not looking forward to. At all. But really, he was a Stronghold! He could be tough! He could bite the bullet and get in there and tell his dad! And screw what his grandfather would have thought of it!

"Dad?"

"Will?" Stronghold Sr. grinned, waving his son over to the pool table where he was setting the balls up. "Come on over! We can play a game!"

"Actually dad," Will stuck his hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth on his heels. "I need to talk to you."

Steve blinked, turning to look at his son. "Well, sure, Will. You can tell me anything, you know that. So what's troubling you?"

"Dad... um... I'm..." Will stumbled over the words, trying to figure out how best to just say it.

"Yes? Just tell me, son. I'll understand."

"Dad..." Will swallowed. "I'm gay."

Steve blinked. For several long moments, then he nodded. "I understand, Will."

Will almost fell over. "You what?!"

"I understand," Steve repeated, turning to break the balls. He watched them scatter across the green felt for a few moments, then turned back to his son, grinning. "It's perfectly normal, you know. Your grandfather's brother Randalph was gay too, you know. Course, he didn't dare tell anyone, least of all your grandfather, so his lover dressed as a woman all the time. I always thought it was hilarious when he brought 'her' round for dinner." He glanced back at his game, then at his son. "Sure you don't want to play?"

Okay... two steps down. That was strangely easy, but Will wasn't going to complain. Frankly, it was a bit of a relief. Ha, who was he kidding. It was a huge relief!

Step three then, and this was the hardest one. Telling Warren he liked him without getting barbequed. Well-done.

"Hey, Warren."

Warren Peace barely glanced up from his novel. "Hey."

"Whatcha reading?" Will asked, hands in his pockets again, as he settled on the retaining wall beside Warren.

Warren lifted the book a little so Will could see the cover, which he tilted his head sideways to read aloud, "Moby Dick. You know, I read a book that said that Ishmael and Quiquay..."

"Were gay lovers, yes," Warren finished, returning his book to his lap. "And they were. It's fairly obvious in the text."

"Oh." Will blinked. "And that doesn't bother you?"

"Be a hypocritical of me, if it did," Warren muttered.

Will took a moment to work through that, then perked up. Did Warren just practically admit to him he was gay? Gay, too?! As in, as well? As in... Will actually stood a little more than a snowball's chance in hell?! "You know," he spoke up, swallowing his nerves, trying very hard to sound casual. "Our school's a bit like this book."

Warren's eyebrows rose at that, and he turned to look at him. "How's that?"

"Well, we've got the maniacal insane captain, that's Coach Boomer, and a ship, well a school, but wait, no, the school is the white whale, because everyone's trying to get to it..."

"So we're like Moby Dick because we ride the white whale," Warren said. "You've got it a little mixed up, Stronghold."

"Yeah," Will agreed, frowning, then perked up. "But you've got tattoos, so you can be Quiquay!"

"Which would make you Ishmael," Warren nodded.

Will swallowed. "Well, I mean, you remember that book I was telling you about? Well... call me Ishmael. Call you Quiquay."

Warren turned to look at him, smirking. "Are you asking me out, Stronghold?"

Will smiled as strongly as he could. "Are you saying yes?"

Warren smirked, and slid closer, turning back to his book. His other hand, however, reached over to clasp Will's, twining their fingers. "Would have been a waste of my time to tell Layla to leave you be, tell your dad not to freak out on you, and pre-warn the tabloids otherwise."

Will blinked. For a very long moment, he could only gape at the smirking boy, then yelped, "You pre-warned the tabloids?!"

Warren peered at him, surprised. "So?"

Will just smacked himself in the forehead. "I knew I forgot something!"


End file.
